Are Pop Stars Having the Conversations They’ve Always Wanted on Substack?

Charli XCX, Doechii, and Troye Sivan are some of the artists publishing essays that challenge perceptions of stardom Are Pop Stars Having the Conversations They’ve Always Wanted on Substack? Charli XCX, Doechii, and Troye Sivan are some of the artists publishing essays that challenge perceptions of stardom By Larisha Paul Larisha Paul Contact Larisha Paul on X Hollywood Mourns ‘Beyond Devastating’ Loss of James Van Der Beek: ‘One of the Good Guys’ Bijou Phillips Is Urgently Seeking Kidney Donor While Hospitalized: ‘Time Is of the Essence’ Keion White Recovering From Surgery After Being Shot Following Alleged Argument With Lil Baby View all posts by Larisha Paul February 15, 2026 Charli XCX attends the "Wuthering Heights" UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on February 05, 2026 in London, England. Samir Hussein/WireImage Charli XCX has nearly as many opinions about the world as people have about her. It’s what makes her such a smart pop star. She’s always championed the idea that pop should be an artform worth analyzing, dissecting, and even fighting over. This was true in 2014, when she tweeted, “I love people who get angry about pop music,” and raved about loving Becky G’s undeniable pop classic, “Shower.” It remains so now, as she satirizes Brat in the part-mockumentary, part-concert film, part-psychological thriller The Moment. But the real proof might be her Substack. “Another thing about being a pop star is that you cannot avoid the fact that some people are simply determined to prove that you are stupid,” Charli wrote in the sprawling essay, “The Realities of Being a Pop Star.” When she published the entry in November, there were already a few stars using the media platform in a similar way to publish long musings on popularity, pop stardom, pop culture, and, most notably, themselves. Rosalía joined in September, writing about the purpose of her art but also the sadness around her birthday. Tegan and Sara have been there since 2022, mostly choosing to share voice notes rather than blocks of text. But Charli’s arrival seemed to mark a shift. Her writing engaged pretty directly with conversations pop stars aren’t normally invited to be part of — and people were paying attention. (She racked up more than 17,000 subscribers within 48 hours.) The current parameters of pop spectatorship and the content mill that drives it online — with blind items, hate trains, and misinformation — have made it so that no artist can really control the conversation around them. They’re just meant to provide material for other people to talk about. There are plenty of essays dissecting pop songs and the artists behind them, and there are less thorough interrogations on platforms like X and Reddit, not to mention more speculative content on TikTok. Now, a wave of musicians are hoping to rewrite and re-contextualize their narrative through longform written content. Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century In the first entry Doechii published on Substack, “If You Were Writing to Black People, You Wouldn’t Have to Edit So Much,” she wrote, “I’m tired of speaking to ‘everyone’ through my music … I want to talk only to the people who can understand me the first time.” The post underscored how persistently Black women are compelled to over-explain and accommodate for the purpose of accessibility. Doechii can control every facet of the music she releases, but she doesn’t have the same command over who listens to it or how they engage with it. She published her most recent Substack entry, “My Shower Head Is Racist,” in December. “I love the flow of my home, designed for community but not shouting for attention,” she wrote. “Nothing here performs. It’s made for dim nights, dancing, drunken guests stumbling into corners to make out, spills, and intimacy.” It eased readers into a more complex conversation: In the essay, Doechii analyzed the showerhead in her home and the ones in her hotels, explaining how they’re all disturbing her peace. “Because immediately, instinctively, I know: no Black woman was taken into account when this technology was designed,” she shared. She used bolds and italics that shift tone in the same way her voice does in her music. “This is about racism in technology,” she wrote, punctuating the declaration with a definitive: “(IDC IDC IDC!!!)” She can hear the what-about-isms and “well, actuallys” before they land in her replies. It doesn’t always work against the inevitable comprehension deficit, but doesn’t require five extra paragraphs of overexplaining. Naturally, there were still some comments from people who resist thinking critically, but feel entitled to engage, anyway. A few asked why she doesn’t just tr